To celebrate and commemorate March as Women’s Month, five films that touch on the issues, concerns, challenges, struggles, and realities of women will be screened for free each Wednesday.
The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde has meticulously selected several full-length films to explore and highlight the individuality and the solidarity that create nuances and resonances in the different narratives of women.
Roma (2018) by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, set in the 1970s Mexico City, introduced Cleo, an indigenous Mixteco live-in housekeeper who worked for a middle-class household with four children. As the patriarch ran away, she found herself trying to support what’s left of the family, all while preparing for her own unexpected motherhood. The drama will be on view on March 2.
Rocks (2019), a coming-of-age piece by British filmmaker Sarah Gavron, followed the lively yet heartbreaking journey of a Black British teenager girl who struggled to take care of herself and her younger brother as they were abandoned by their depression-prone mother. Set in Hackney, London, it showcased the power of friendship, youth and dreams amid the battles for survival. It will go live on March 9.
Body of Truth (2020), directed by German screenwriter Evelyn Schels, studied the influence of violence, oppression and war in art. It profiled contemporary Iranian visual artist Shirin Nesha, Serbian conceptual performance artist Marina Abramović, Israeli sculptor, video and installation artist Sigalit Landau and German photographer Katharina Sieverding as they explored their histories for art. It is slated on March 16.
A Thousand Women (2018) reflected on art and activism. Under the direction of Brazilian screenwriter Rita Toledo, the documentary focused on female artists Lena Chen (USA), Florencia Duran (Uruguay), Bia Ferreira (Brazil), and Ana Luisa Santos (Brazil) as they transformed their experiences into meaningful representations of feminism today. It is scheduled on March 23.
The Flowering of the Crone: Leonora Carrington, Another Reality (2015), directed by American filmmaker, poet, author, and historian Ally Acker, is considered as the sole film on British-born artist Carrington. The motion picture covered her full oeuvre with rare personal footage from the 1940s through the 21st Century. It contained a fanciful depiction of her famous 1939 short story The Debutante. It will be showcased on March 30.
Film screenings will be conducted via Zoom every 12:00 noon on the scheduled dates. All shows are free and open to the public.
Interested participants may register through https://forms.gle/3AUP8tbMVPFoaPfQ8. For more information, email mcad@benilde.edu.ph.
